Join me & several other authors as we define what constitutes romance. Make sure to enter the #giveaway too.

What does romance look like? Most of us are used to perfect air brushed models looking adoringly at each other. Maybe some famous actors pretend to be in love with each other on the large screen. Sometimes it is the rich and handsome that fall in love in books, but not my books. I want the contrary, the difficult, those with issues and major emotional baggage for my romances. It isn't too surprising that I view romance differently than advertising does. My slideshow will give you a taste.

It's not too surprising that the romantic hero in Revelation is really old, over a century. Still he's a charmer.

His eyes sparkled with humor as he held out his hand to her. “Come aboard darling, I’ve been waiting for you.” Familiarity colored his voice as if he were greeting an old friend.Nora knew she’d remember a dark-eyed hottie with curly hair and a wicked smile. Better yet, the bright green and yellow wagon he stood was definitely memorable. Especially with its fanciful drawings on the side and the two draft horses in the traces, was she remembering part of a movie or a story Nana told her. That was it. Nana was part Romany Gypsy.Still it didn’t make sense if she was in the story and the man spoke English. Part of her wanted to take his hand and step up into the wagon. To take off with this unknown man who at times looked into her eyes not only as if he knew her, but liked what he saw, which made it tempting, very tempting.The man dropped his hand. “Oh, I see you’re still not ready, my Nora.”“How do you know my name?” He said her name as if he knew it well without a blink or a hesitation. Not like, those fraternity guys trying to hit on her who never could quite remember her name calling everything from Nadine to Noreen. One even called her Norad, which she promptly informed her stood for North American Aerospace Defense Command. As she recalled her would-be Romeo stumbled away muttering ”bitch” loud enough for her to hear.Men never worked too hard to romance her. Her purpose in attending college education was to get an education to obtain a decent job. As a scholarship student, she needed to keep her grades up. A good portion of the girls who came to school felt the need to cut loose by skipping class, drinking too much and having sex with guys they didn’t know or couldn’t remember. Often those same girls flunked out in less than two years.The man jumped down from the wagon startling her, invading her space. His face filled her vision. She had to admire his strong jaw line and the crinkles around his eyes when he smiled caused her heart to beat faster. Her lips turned up naturally in response.“Nora, Nora, How could you have forgotten me? I have loved you through several lifetimes and searched for you in each of mine. My life was desolate until I found you in a dream.”

Rayna Noire is an author and a historian. The desire to uncover the truth behind the original fear of witches led her to the surprising discovery that people believed in magick in some form up to 150 years ago. A world that believed the impossible could happen and often did must have been amazing. With this in mind, Ms. Noire taps into this dimension, shapes it into stories about a Pagan family who really isn’t that different from most people. They do go on the occasional time travel adventures and magick happens.